Another Kind of Country

by Kevin Brophy

Santiago, 1973 : Pinochet has made his move and violence has erupted all over the city. Young, sheltered Rosa is forced to flee across the Andes and, finding unlikely refuge with a Stasi spy, is taken to Germany behind the Iron Curtain.

East Berlin, 1989 : Englishman Patrick Miller has crossed over and is working at the Secretariat for Socialist Correctness in Publishing. Dragged into a dangerous world of shady dealings, Patrick doesn’t know what he believes in anymore. Until he meets Rosa…

Separate currents of the twentieth century have washed Patrick and Rosa up in a divided city that, despite everything, they’ve come to love. As the Soviet Union starts to break up around them, the tide of change is too strong for even the Stasi to hold back. But once the rubble has been cleared, what kind of country will they be left with?



'Its humanity, attention to period detail and sheer guts will win you over' - The Guardian.

'Bittersweet and beautifully observed' - Financial Times.

Kevin Brophy has told the story of his childhood in the Army Barracks in Galway, Ireland, in the memoir Walking the Line . In 2009 he was Writer-in-Residence to the city of Langenfeld (NRW) in Germany. He has taught in England, Ireland, Poland and Germany.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Espionage

434 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Kevin T. Brophy, Irish author.

No website (yet).

Kevin Brophy grew up in a military barracks on Ireland's west coast and now lives in Galway. He has written various non-fiction titles previously and his chequered career includes stints as a postman and teacher, barman and businessman. He has lived in Ireland, England and Poland but feels most at home in Germany.

See also: Kevin Brophy, Australian poet.

Reviews

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

More like 2.5. There were aspects of this book I enjoyed. The setting of East Berlin, the suspense that was provided. A valiant effort. I definitely learned things that will be useful. The opinion spectrum of British newspaper. Very helpful. Knowing the Guardian as on the liberal somewhat MSNBC spectrum and the Telegraph as British newspaper FOX news types. This book gave me political clarity of what Tories are but I likely could have solved this with a simple Google search.

In the blurb it played up the Chilean setting of the book. However this was but a few chapters which I found very disappointing since this was part of the reason I opted to buy this book when I found it at my local Dollar Tree.

Another thing that bothered me was the sudden and recurrent use of bookly time travel or book flashbacks. I generally enjoy that but Brophy over uses this writing device. It felt ike every chapter changed time period from one to the next. From 1973 to 1945 to 1989 and back again. SO MANY TIMES!

Over archingly I am happy to have read it. It got me back to my normal bookish self. A quick read despite its 418 pages. I read it in less then 24 hours. The short chapters kept the plot moving and my mind reading.

Almost forgot to say this I like how the romance between Rosa and Patrick is not all consuming and comes of as natural, romantic and very believably human.

[Michael Bully · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read 'Berlin Crossing ' just before this novel. Am interested in the DDR . The writer combines three characters, a Chilean refugee that the DDR rescued in 1973, a former Nazi major who gets captured by the Red Army on the Eastern Front and who gets 'converted' to Communism, and a British socialist who emigrates to the DDR. All seems a great deal of qualities in Socialism as well as the repressive side of the regime. And the three of them are displaced by the dramatic rise of the pro-democracy movement and the end of the closed border in 1989. There is some love interest, and a Cold War espionage thriller plot thrown in. So great ideas and certainly a story which is enjoyable to read. But whilst watching the Old School Socialists coping with their society collapsing is interesting, felt the sub plots and spying just didn't quite hit the mark. The notion that there really was a network striving for a more humane faced Socialism for the DDR seems to be the author's invention. Enjoyable enough but certainly will not let
my view of the fall of the DDR get influenced by this book.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

As previous posters have mentioned - set in a really edgy time in history, with lots going on.

This was lost in the story which was not convincing, the characters were not convincing and the dialogue was clunky and unbelievable. Apart from the glaring error pointed out in a previous post there were others where characters seemed to have been muddled up.

Shame, as I said - a very interesting time in history, and a very interesting premise for a story (that a Westerner would become convinced that living in the Eastern block was preferable.)

As I was reading it I kept thinking to myself "why am I reading it"? I just kept hoping it would get better and there would be a bigger twist. There wasn't.

I wouldn't recommend this book and I won't bother reading this author again unless someone really convinces me another book of his is worth it.

[Evelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The political events at the beginning and end of the book are interesting and riveting, but the personal stories that bridge the two events are far less interesting and the love story that's supposed to be the critical core, and transformational event within the book is utterly lifeless.

I arrived at the 3 rating by averaging the political portions which I thought deserved a 4 and the personal stories which I generously rated 2. Overall, the book was terribly disappointing.

[Lady Drinkwell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I chose this book because part of it was set in Chile when Pinochet took over, however this turned out to be only a couple of chapters at the beginning of the story, the rest of it focused on Germany during the fall of the Berlin wall. Although the subject matter was interesting at times it was not my sort of book.. far too much action. The male protagonist was a believable character but the love interest was not so well drawn.

[Lesley Knight · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not enjoy as much as his earlier 'Berlin Crossing'. Plot was confusing in parts. Some wooden characters and cliched dialogue.

[Brendon knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought this book was really good, well worth reading.

[Victor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not bring myself to read past about page 30